Government promises disabled will keep their pension

People with disabilities will still receive the pension once the national disability insurance scheme begins, the federal government has promised.

Disability advocates have told the parliamentary inquiry examining the scheme they are concerned the government will try to recoup the cost by winding back access to income support payments. The Welfare Rights Network says the government has been unclear about whether people who will be eligible for the NDIS will still be paid the disability support pension.

''People who obtain essential supports, aids and equipment and services under the NDIS will continue to require the level of income support provided by the disability support pension, while people whose disability is such that they do not require aids or personal care, for example, will still require the financial support of the disability support pension,'' the organisation said in its submission to the inquiry.

In 2011 the Productivity Commission recommended that a national disability insurance scheme be created. In the same report it also recommended the redesign of the disability support pension and its eligibility criteria.

The commission recommended that the pension become a transitional payment rather than an ongoing pension.

The opposition has flagged tightening eligibility for the disability pension and is considering a separate payment for people with disabilities that are not lasting.

However, the federal government on Wednesday said it would make no further changes to the payment after changing the criteria for the welfare payment last year. A spokeswoman for the Minister for Community Services, Jenny Macklin, said the government supported the commission's recommendation that the pension remain separate to the disability insurance scheme.

''The NDIS is not intended to replace the DSP,'' the spokeswoman said.